Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh to join BJP next week

Singh had floated the Punjab Lok Congress last year after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister.

Chandigarh: Former chief minister and Punjab Lok Congress chief Amarinder Singh will join the BJP next week, a party spokesperson said on Friday.

Singh will also merge his newly formed party, the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC), with the BJP.

The former Punjab CM, Captain Amarinder Singh, 80, who had gone to London for a spinal surgery, had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week.

He had floated the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) last year after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister.A former Congress veteran, Amarinder resigned from the membership of the grand old party in early November last year, one-and-half months after he was replaced with Charanjit Singh Channi as the CM by the Congress leadership in the wake of his protracted tussle with the then state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.

After quitting the Congress, Amarinder had floated the PLC in the run-up to the February 20 Punjab Assembly elections. It contested the polls in alliance with the BJP and the SAD (Sanyukt). According to their seat-sharing arrangement, the BJP contested on 65 seats, the PLC on 37 (with a number of candidates preferring to contest on the BJP symbol) and the SAD (Sanyukt) on 15 seats.